Do you recall my recent post on denominations? If not, head on over and check out "Denominations or Divisions?" first. I wanted to go further with this and share with you a continuation of what God has shared with me about what He DOES want the church to look like.
I feel how He so desires for the church to be reawakened to what Jesus calls worship. I feel the Lord's heart on this. It isn't this sole idea of standing aimlessly repeating words on a screen, hoping to get to a place of resonating with those words. It really isn't even jumping or dancing around, or lifting hands. God made us all uniquely, individually, and He wants us to worship Him in the individual ways that He creatively made us, and to do that as the collective body.
What did Jesus make a part in you? Do you have an affinity for art, or food, or words? Maybe you love to run? Eric Little was a missionary in China for many years, but He was also a world famous runner who was the first man to break the 4 minute mile. The famous quote of his seems relevant here,
"God made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure."
There is a man named Dave, who works in Northern Thailand. In an interview with Sean Smith recently he described this idea further:
"I think everyone is fast in their own way. And when you find what that it is, GO! LOVE IT! DO IT! I think God has many ways for us and his ways have no limitation for us. 'How fast you wanna go? How much faith you got?' This is a narrow path, but there's no speed limit on it. 'How fast do you wanna go? Feel my pleasure as you're running.' There's a Psalm that says 'You have put my boundaries in pleasant places.' God has boundaries for all of us that we can break. The great thing about God is, you can break all His boundaries that you want to. Don't worry; he doesn't want to control you. He is just saying, 'this is the best thing for you. I know it cause I made you.'"
This world is desperate for a people to be who God made them to be. And the Father so desires to see His children realize all the love and honor and blessing that they already have from Him. We don't have to earn it.
We couldn't if we tried.
See, the devil is by nature, an accuser. He takes every opportunity to convince us that if only we avoid certain things (cussing, stealing, manipulating), or do certain things (watch only Christian movies), or be about certain things (injustice, anti-trafficking, etc.) that we will finally be in the image of God.
Well, it's time to break that lie off.
God already made you, and Jesus already died on the cross and rose again. His blood already made you clean in His book of life, you just have to grab it. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. That means it is within reach. And thus, you are already in the image of God. Be who God MADE YOU TO BE!
Too often, Christians are convinced of this idea that we have to live this "super Christian" life. That if we aren't suffering as a missionary in some other part of the world, with no internet, TV, a/c or bbq sauce then we aren't following Jesus or good enough to be loved by Him. (see my teammate, Amanda Kerr's blog on this here).
Well, who do you think YOU are that you are so special a case that His love won't cover you? And I'll tell you: to place a self-inflicted suffering mentality on ourselves is really another form of legalism.
This is why we see so few workers in the field of missions. Because they believe you have to live off of support, or work for a missions sending agency, or only plant churches. Don't get me wrong. I think groups like the IMB are wonderful, and are doing a vital work in this world, and are truly advancing the kingdom. But there has arisen this stigma, that to obey Jesus, to follow Him, love Him, and do His work means only one stereotyped, boxed in idea of what that looks like.
When in reality, Jesus is just calling us to be who He made us to be. For some, He has made for that role. But for so many others, you don't have to fit into this tiny box to be a missionary.
If you are receiving His love, accepting the identity of sonship/daughtership that He has already given; if you are supporting His will, and the will of those He has placed in authority over your life, and submitting to them, and you parents, and you are pursing your own passions that He has given you, then YOU ARE being a missionary wherever you are. Because in these things, you have received the power of the blood of the lamb, meant for you, and through these things, the word of your testimony will reach to those God intends for you to reconcile back to Him.
And it is our responsibility to let God redefine what it means to be a missionary, or live a missional lifestyle, or a lifestyle of worship. Whatever you want to call it. God doesn't want missionaries. He wants sons and daughters, who know that by pursuing the passions that God created in them, God will receive the glory, because we are fully alive in those times, and stewarding what God gave us. We are stewarding being who God made us individually to be.
